Genealogy Chat

I have marriage cetificate for marriage in Ripon in 1847. Both bride and groom are aged 21 years. In 1850 bride dies. Her burial details say she was 21 years old! How can that be? Did they both lie at their marriage?or was groom confused?

They probably lied (maybe they didn't have parental approval which was needed if you weren't 21). Not many of the marriage certificates I have bought have the correct age on them. Not many of the death certificates have the right age either. I tend to go by the birth certificate (although you can't do this as they were both born before registration). Kath. x

Thanks Kathleen. This as puzzled me for a while. I agree that maybe the groom did not have permission. He gives his fathers name and by the looks of it he was still alive but i can not find him on any census so must not have been at the wedding. What suprises me though is how a labourer can marry a gunsmiths daughter at Ripon cathedral! Am i missing something?

I would imagine that in those days, if the cathedral was close to where you lived, anyone could marry there. If the groom was a labourer and the bride's father was more well to do, then that would be a good reason for lying about age as perhaps her parents wouldn't have approved. Kath. x

Thanks again Kathleen. That could explain why the groom placed their 2 year old child with a family as NURSE CHILD in York on the 1851 census. Did not get on with in-laws!!LOL!! Thanks again.

Cathedrals are often Parish Churches too. Another possibility - some Cathedrals offered a 'no questions asked' marriage service, because the church or cathedral concerned was a 'peculiar' (i.e. outside the normal ecclesiastical laws) I don't know if Ripon Cathedral was a peculiar. OC

Thankyou for that OC!! I think i will look into that it could explain alot!!